The sensitive topic was the tragic death of four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya, in Benghazi last September.

No, strike that. The sensitive topic was the lunkheaded and futile rehashing of the “talking points” made by members of the Obama administration following the attacks.

Talking points are a mania in Washington, where it is believed that the ex post facto description of an event is more important than the event itself.

Was the attack in Benghazi triggered by demonstrations elsewhere in the Arab world or by local terrorism? And who changed which clauses in the talking points? Which agency protected its own image at the expense of another agency’s image?

And who the hell cares? The gulf between how much the Washington press corps cares about the Benghazi talking points and how much the public cares is striking.

To the public, Benghazi was a tragedy, a sad loss of life, one of many such losses over the years. To the Washington press corps, however, the Benghazi talking points are a carcass to be chewed over, like a pack of coyotes looking for any hint of fresh meat.

The Republicans see Benghazi as a political opportunity, a way to swift-boat Clinton and lacerate her up as much as possible before 2016.

On Jan. 23, Clinton appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a tea party darling, wanted to talk about the talking points.

“We were misled that there were supposedly protests and that something sprang out of that — an assault sprang out of that,” Johnson said, “and that was easily ascertained that that was not the fact, and the American people could have known that within days and they didn’t know that.”

Clinton, a former senator and now a former secretary of state, knows how to put up with guff. But she figured the American people had put up with enough guff when it came to Benghazi.

“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” she replied. “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator.”